The Maximum Experiment
by Moony44
Summary: Kind of Maximum Ride 4. The School's back. And this time, it's not giving up. But neither is the Flock. Max has figured out a new way to fly and the school has got a new creature to try out on them. And, much to Max's joy, she has a new Voice. Post MR3.
1. It's Back

**Hey, guys. Just a Maximum Ride fic I got in my head today. I couldn't shake it out, so here it is. Thanks!**

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o **

Three months ago. That was how long it had been since the School disappeared. I thought they had gone forever. Well, turns out, the fates don't like us. And they just can't cut us a break, can they? Because that path we were on (and still are) is hell. Living hell. Because we just don't have it easy, do we?

Sorry, lemme back up and start at the beginning. My name's Max. You probably know that. Well, me and my flock (how's that for grammar?) had been living with my mom for a couple months. The most blissful months of our lives. The month's that brought us phrases such as, 'Life is good,' or, 'I'm glad to be here'. Well, sometimes life isn't good. And sometimes things turn up after you thought they had been gone forever.

Yup, you guessed it. The School's back. Obvious much?

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I'll start from the very beginning. You know, when we were at Mom's house. It was such a lovely day. Angel and I were flying around a bit, waiting for Nudge to get back from 7-Eleven with soda. That's when I heard the noise. It struck me as weird, because we hadn't seen Erasers in months. But, it didn't sound like Erasers. Not really.

"Angel, sweetie, why don't we take a break from flying and go inside?" I asked. I didn't want to freak her out, in case it did have something to do with the School. I doubted it.

"Why?" she asked, casually.

"Oh...no reason." I know I hadn't seen the school in a long time, but in times like these, I really put my guard up. I started worrying about Fang and Gazzy and Nudge and Iggy. Even though I knew where they were, I still was worried.

_Come on, Max._

Darn Voice was still there. Daddy dearest.

_Get a hold of yourself. Fang, Iggy and the Gasman are out camping. You know that. _

Oh yeah, they were camping. Though at first when they told me they were going camping, I practically burst in a fit of laughter. You'd think that living in a cave for four years would be enough 'camping', wouldn't you? Apparently not.

The noise was gone. I breathed a quick sigh of relief and turned towards Angel. She gave me the thumbs up sign and I gave her a high-five.

"Hey, Max!" Nudge called from a hundred yards away. I could see she was carrying some soda in one hand. Excellent.

"Nudgie!" Angel called back to her. She came into clear view and swooped down to our level. I held out my hand for her to give me a soda. Instead, she dumped the whole package of cans on me. Great. I playfully handed them to Angel.

She dived down and set them on the grass, then came back up.

"I don't want to stop flying," she said. A kid after my own heart.

Just then, a wave of shock hit me, out of nowhere. _I couldn't feel my wings._ I frantically tried to move them, but they wouldn't budge. I dropped like a stone, down, down, down.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I woke up on the grass. Five worried faces stared up at me. The boys were back.

"Max, are you okay?" Were the first words flying out of everyone's mouths. I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out. I then propped my elbows up and smiled.

"Yeah," I whispered, my voice hoarse. "I'm fine." The Flock looked all relieved. All, but Fang. His dark eyes matched his serious face. He knew something was wrong. Even when I said everything was fine, he could tell. He always could tell. Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy started playing a game of tag in the air when Fang called me over.

"Max, something is wrong. I know it," he said, gravely.

"I know. There is something wrong with my wings. I can't feel them." I attempted again to move my wings. No go.

"Listen, this is not normal at all," Fang said.

Duh. "I know. I'll wait to see what happens tomorrow and then I'll tell mom. I don't want her and Ella all riled up about nothing. It is probably nothing."

"Okay," Fang answered, although he didn't sound one-hundred percent convinced. I gave him a reassuring look and peered up at the sky.

"Okay, guys, snack time!" You would have thought I had told them we were going to Disneyworld again, the way they came down. All six of us were on the ground in two seconds flat.

I led the way to the sliding doors that led to the kitchen. I opened them and froze. Cats. Tigers, lions, and bears. Well, no bears. But tigers. And a lot of them. With wings. Oh my.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**AN: Hey, I'm sorry if it doesn't sound very interesting now, but I promise I have almost the entire story plot in my head. Really, it will get better. Read and review, please and thank you. I would love feedback, good or bad. **

**PS: Did you get the Oh my part? I liked it. Heehee...**


	2. Electricity

**I led the way to the sliding doors that led to the kitchen. I opened them and froze. Cats. Tigers, lions, and bears. Well, no bears. But tigers. And a lot of them. With wings. Oh my.**

* * *

I didn't know what to do. I mean, I can't _fly_. I would hardly be able to fight dangerous wild cats. But I was going to have to try.

"Okay, guys--" I started.

"What's going on?" Iggy asked, frantically. He could sense the tension in the air.

"You remember when we were talking about Jumanji a couple months ago?" Nudge asked. Iggy nodded, fervently. I kept glancing at the cats, but they were showing no signs of movement. It's like they were sleeping or something.

"Well, it's just like the lions in Jumanji. Except they are in our house. And there are tigers too," her voice was faltering. "With wings," she added, pathetically.

"Well, all I can think of is fighting them," I said. This was not going to be a pretty fight.

"They aren't awake now! Let's get away before they wake up!" Angel proposed. I had to admit that was a pretty darn good suggestion.

"Yeah, Max," Fang agreed. Right when he said Max, the white eyes of a huge, magnificent tiger shot open. The other cats quickly followed suit, showing off their sharp claws and fierce teeth. Me, the Maximum Ride was terrified. And I felt like no loser admitting it.

"Too late to back away," I whispered through clenched teeth. They were slowly walking towards us, their padded paws making no noise of the marble floors. Their teeth were bared ferociously.

One leaped towards me. I was in no mood to fight wild animals, but they gave me no choice. I delivered a roundhouse kick towards it's stomach, but it barely noticed. It pounced again, this time clawing me right in the face, leaving huge gashes on my cheeks, forehead and nose. I looked out from the corner of my eye as I was deliriously punching it, and saw that the rest of the flock were holding their own pretty well. I saw Iggy's arm at been clawed to bits, but that was the worst of the injuries. Us, the flock, against ten man-eating animals. Okay, so these wouldn't eat us, but they could sure chop us up pretty badly if they wanted it.

"On the count of three, fly," I yelled above all the chaos. The flock looked at me and nodded.

"One!" I screeched and they flew upward, against the ceiling, breaking it open, sending debris everywhere. I forgot. I couldn't fly. I desperately tried to lift my wings, but to no avail. Blood was streaming down my face, making it impossible to see. I blindly tried to swipe at any tiger I could get.

Suddenly, I felt strong hands pull me upward. I wiped some of the blood of my face, seeing Fang. I weakly smiled at him and he gave me a look and kept flying. That's Fang for you.

* * *

We soon got to a cave in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, that's what I said. Back to a cave! Darn. After I had put some cloth on my face and helped Iggy with his arm, I turned to Fang.

"Thanks for helping me back there."

He gave me another look. "Duh. That's what I'm for. We are a flock and we stick together. I wouldn't just leave you."

That was sweet and obvious at the same time. I just wanted to thank him, but I guess he took it as I'm thanking him because I thought that he wouldn't do it. Which I totally didn't think.

I smiled at him. He grinned back, taking my hand. But something weird happened when we touched hands. Electricity? Well I guess I liked him, but there was something more than that.

_Max._

The Voice was back. Just what I needed. Not.

_What? You just have perfect timing you know that, Dad? _

I was rolling my eyes and Fang quickly dropped his hand.

"No, I didn't want you to stop holding my hand. I just have a little annoyance right now," I said, quickly.

"Annoyance? What is it?" Fang asked, concerned. Aw, how sweet. He was concerned.

_Snap out of it, Max_, I thought to myself.

_Maaaax_. The Voice was calling my name again.

"It's nothing," I replied to Fang.

"Yes, yes what is it?!" I cried out loud. The flock looked at me, quizzically.

"What's what, Max?" Gazzy asked, confused.

"Nothing, nothing." I walked angrily out to the edge of the cave, huffing. Fang of course had to follow me.

"What's really wrong, Max?" He asked.

"The Voice," I whispered, so that only he could hear. "It's back. The voice is back. Dad is back." I said, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Sshhh, sshhh," Fang said. It was sooo embarrassing to be crying in front of Fang but I couldn't help it. _Finally_ we were gone of everything, the school, Jeb, everything and then it all comes back!

He rubbed my back, soothingly. He then slipped his hand in mine, like before. I felt a jolt and jumped a little.

"What?" he asked and took his hand away. The excited-ness (how's that for a word?) in my body went away.

"Do that again," I answered. He took my hand again. I felt another jolt of electricity and my wings moved. _My wings moved. _

"Oh my gosh, Fang! I can feel my wings!"

Fang stared down at me in amazement and looked at my wings.

"Let's go flying," he suggested, nonchalantly.

_Max, do you know what this means? It means that when you touch Fang's hand the electricity in Fang is transferred to you, making your wings work. _

I didn't want to believe the Voice. Hmm...could I really trust him on this?

"Fang?" He looked at me again. God, how I loved those gorgeous dark eyes.

I breathed and braced myself in case I fell over the cliff. I think I can fly. But there is only one way to find out.

"Let's go flying."

* * *

**AN: Next chapter! Whee! I'm very excited for this chapter and the next ones!**


	3. A Little Note

I'm sorry to say:

This, and all of my other stories will be put on a temporary hiatus. I know I don't update often, but I will be updating less often.

Finals are approaching and I need to focus on more important things.

Although I won't be updating as much as I did (which wasn't very often), I will still be checking my mail for messages and responding to reviews and PMs, etc.

I've been wanting to do this for quite a while now.

Thanks for all of your understanding. And it doesn't mean that if I don't have an extra couple hours on the weekend I won't update.

And I know I will lose readers because of my lack of updates. At this point, I couldn't care less. I love my readers and I love that you read my stories and that you review them. But, the problem is, I can't update as much as all of you would like. And it's frustrating for a writer to know that she can't update every weekend like she should. It's aggravating to know that people, actual people, are reading your stories and that you don't have a lot of time to update so those actual people can read them. I just sincerely hope that you will still have interest in the story after the long wait.

And I really appreciate everyone who has read my stories. You don't know how much that means to me. Well, it means a whole lot, I tell you.

The stories that I probably will be updating the quickest:

**To Find Love Again**

**Only a FairyTale**

**In The City of Love**

**Blue Skies Ahead**

I'm sorry. I really am. I apologize especially to the people who have read the stories that I update the least. Like The Irony of Vacation, or Only a Fairytale.

I truly hope that people still read the stories. I'm sorry for not updating, for keeping you waiting, and I'm sorry for the hiatus. I also apologize to those people whom I PM regularly. I know it takes me weeks to PM you back. I'm so horrible about those types of things. I put them in a special file so I remember to message you back, but then I forget I have the file!

Anyways...

Thanks for reading. :D

And maybe I will have an inspiration to write a oneshot. You never know.

I will update again.

Just not anytime soon.

Thanks, and farewell for now,

Moony x


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